John McCain's presidential bid blew up for good when he announced in September 2008 that he was suspending his campaign and returning to Washington to address the national financial crisis. In the event, Mr. McCain had nothing to contribute, and the White House passed to Barack Obama.

Mr. Obama's McCain moment—raising expectations of economic seriousness and then dropping them over the cliff—was his hyperpartisan deficit speech at George Washington University in April.

"The move seemed so unnecessary," he says. "The plant was small and it costs money to relocate to China." That is, until Sidoti began adding up the costs of staying in a high-tax state like Rhode Island: Not just federal ones, but state and local, too.

And those problems have only been compounded now: ObamaCare's on track to add serious costs; the administration may yet give us some crazy energy plan; the president's reaffirmed his desire to reverse the Bush-era tax rates, which would amount to one of the largest tax-hikes in history.

Sidoti's actually an example of the problem. With federal, state and city taxes, Sidoti & Co. gets hammered with around a 75 percent tax rate. With his health-care costs rising 10 percent alone this year, he estimates that the first $1 million his company earns goes toward paying those costs.

"That's why I'm looking to open an office in Austin, Texas, where taxes are lower," he tells me.

About Me

The middle of America. As for me, moderate in everything but politics. As Tom Roeser said, she went to Harvard and turned right. I come from The Chicago School, not the Chicago Way. Tweet street @backyardconserv